Amazon losing balance and falling, PLEASE help

[NoviceBirdOwner]

Hello,

Last December I took in two Amazons from a close relative. I’ve never owed a bird and have been doing my very best to care for them. I approximate that they’re between 4 and 5 years old.

They have a large cage with toys, perches and accessible food/water. They stay indoors and I occasionally move the cage outdoors when the conditions are optimal. (sun, fresh etc.)

About two weeks ago, the yellow head began having balancing problems. I was unsure if the wind may have knocked over and injured him while outside. So, I took him to the vet today and he turned out great. Claw grasps were okay, breathing was okay, heart was okay, ears were clean, feathers were okay, eyes were okay. No abnormal behavior. When I feed him, he makes little bird noises etc. He cleans his beak on the perch, wiggles his behind etc.

They did take a blood sample, gave him a few injections for vitamins, relaxant etc. Tomorrow I’m suppose to take him in to get an internal scan done and I’m on edge about this.

Last week, I did take him to go get his nails done and hoped that would help with the grasping. Unfortunately, it didn’t but I feel they didn’t cut enough nail on some fingers.

Today, I lowered the perches just in case he loses his balance and falls. He has fallen a few times since the symptoms began. He’s able to maneuver on the sides of the cage just fine. Right now, he’s sleeping on the perch just fine.

I’m all over the place but I did notice as he was walking across the perch, one of his fingers/nail did turn sideways and suspect that is cause of the balance issues. I managed to take a few pictures of the nails, unfortunately not when it was sideways.

You can see in the first picture that his nail is turning slightly sideways. Could this be the reason why it is losing balance?

I did see the nail/finger go more sideways and that I couldn’t capture onto photo. The sideways nail almost laid flat on the perch (that how much sideways it went)

 

[texsize]

Hello,

Last December I took in two Amazons from a close relative. I’ve never owed a bird and have been doing my very best to care for them. I approximate that they’re between 4 and 5 years old.

They have a large cage with toys, perches and accessible food/water. They stay indoors and I occasionally move the cage outdoors when the conditions are optimal. (sun, fresh etc.)

About two weeks ago, the yellow head began having balancing problems. I was unsure if the wind may have knocked over and injured him while outside. So, I took him to the vet today and he turned out great. Claw grasps were okay, breathing was okay, heart was okay, ears were clean, feathers were okay, eyes were okay. No abnormal behavior. When I feed him, he makes little bird noises etc. He cleans his beak on the perch, wiggles his behind etc.

They did take a blood sample, gave him a few injections for vitamins, relaxant etc. Tomorrow I’m suppose to take him in to get an internal scan done and I’m on edge about this.

Last week, I did take him to go get his nails done and hoped that would help with the grasping. Unfortunately, it didn’t but I feel they didn’t cut enough nail on some fingers.

Today, I lowered the perches just in case he loses his balance and falls. He has fallen a few times since the symptoms began. He’s able to maneuver on the sides of the cage just fine. Right now, he’s sleeping on the perch just fine.

I’m all over the place but I did notice as he was walking across the perch, one of his fingers/nail did turn sideways and suspect that is cause of the balance issues. I managed to take a few pictures of the nails, unfortunately not when it was sideways.

You can see in the first picture that his nail is turning slightly sideways. Could this be the reason why it is losing balance?

I did see the nail/finger go more sideways and that I couldn’t capture onto photo. The sideways nail almost laid flat on the perch (that how much sideways it went)

I would recommend wrapping his perches in the self adhesive bandages that are sold at most pharmacy.

This should help if he is falling due to his claws having a poor grip. I have had this problem with my Yellow nape before and it helped.

If your bird is falling due too loss of balance only your vet can help.

 

[wrench13]

I seriously doubt that a too long claw is going to cause multiple instances of losing balance and falling. What you need is a fully qualified and certified Avian Vet. THis could be a few different things, manifesting as a loss of balance. Minor stroke, leg muscle strain, a painful nip on the foot/leg and others. I am not a vet and no one on ParrotForums is. These are only my best guesses. A CAV will know, not guess. In SoCal there are any number of qualified CAV's.

THe vet tape on the perches is not a bad idea, but will not solve the basic cause.

Good Luck!

 

[KBEquine]

You might want a different opinion from a second vet because there can be a lot of different causes for balance issues. Good luck!

 

[SailBoat]

Please read the segment covering: "Getting to the Foot of the Problem!" as part of: I Love Amazons - An On-Going Journey!

I am a long time believer in providing any Parrot with a much larger Perch than commonly provided. It is very important to remember that in the wild, they spend limited time perching as they are flying, or walking about-on the ground and also moving about in trees and normally on larger branches.

Our Double Yellow-Headed Amazon continues to fly about and can be commonly found on more comfortable places to perch for a nap or just hanging around, like the back of a wing-backed chair.

Smaller branches commonly result in them falling when they are working though their feathers as part of normal feather care. Over-twisting their body and loose their balance.

Since you are indicating that your Parrot is fall during the day, I would start with a major upgrade in the size of the Perches.

Night time falls are also the same issues, but can include other more concerning issues as Birds tend to lock their grip while sleeping and a fall would indicate that something could be interfering with this grip requiring the involvement of Avail Vet.